1883.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



i05 



written on the subject. Mineral waters now 

 hold an important position among remedies 

 that it is necessary for every one to know sorac- 

 Ihing of llieir use. Medical men are sui>p().si-d 

 to understand tlioir use and to lie alih^ to pre- 

 scribe them witli tlie same intellii^ence wliicli 

 they show in the use of other drugs. Hut the 

 people use mineral waters nowadays freely 

 and without the advice of physicians, and 

 therefore, tliey ouglit to know more about 

 them tlian they generally do. Perhaps tlierc 

 is no valuable class of agents more abused 

 than mineral waters in the way they are 

 employed by all sorts and conditions of men. 

 The fault is not altogether of the people. They 

 have no means of knowing how to use the.se 

 waters. Advertisements proclaiming the vir- 

 tues of certain waters are to be found in abun- 

 dance everywliere, but without any specilic 

 directions how to use them. In fact, mineral 

 waters, which arc far more valuable than most 

 of the nostrums in circulation, and not so well 

 protected from misu.se. Every bo.x and 

 bottle of patent medicine is labeled how and 

 when it should be taken and in what doses, 

 but most of the mineral waters have only the 

 name of the water on the bottle with a long 

 list of the diseases which it is said to cure. 

 Now, all this should be changed. Mineral 

 waters should be taken with the same care 

 and with as clear a knowledge of their eflects 

 as any other medicines Medical men espe- 

 cially in Europe, have given nmch attention 

 to the medical effects of dilTerent waters, 

 and their interest in them has increased of 

 late years. The subject of the therapeutic 

 action of all the waters has not yet been ex- 

 hausted by any means. In fact, there is still 

 much that is hazy in the words of the doctors 

 generally regarding this whole matter. I 

 might state this a little stronger by saying 

 that there are still a great many medical men 

 who are lamentably ignorant of all that per- 

 tains to mineral waters. The medical litera- 

 ture on this subject in great i>art remains lo 

 be written. Facts are being obtained by ob- 

 servation all the time, and even now more is 

 known about how to use and the effects to be 

 obtained from mineral waters than is practi- 

 cally applied. It has been pretty definitely 

 made out that certain waters accomplish cer- 

 tain objects. The strong sahne waters are 

 cathartic. Others act upon the kindeys. Those 

 containing iron and phosphates are tonic. 

 The lithia and sulphur waters are alterative 

 and are valuable in rheumatic affections, and 

 so on. It would lie coufusing and tedious to 

 name all the waters and their effects. 



Mineral Waters as Eliminatives. 

 A more convenient way to comprehend and 

 remember them is to classify them according 

 to their effects, as follows : First, elimina- 

 tives; second, tonics, and third, alteratives. 

 The first includes the largest numlter and ex- 

 presses the most important effect produced by 

 mineral waters. Elimination, by which is 

 meant the throwing off of the worn-out mate- 

 rials in the system, is one of the most impor- 

 tant processes of all the functions of the body, 

 and one which is particularly liable to be de- 

 ranged. The breaking down of old tissues 

 and their expulsion from the body is highly 

 necessary to the health and activity of every 

 one. No matter how simple and perfect the 

 supply and appropriation of food may be, if 



elimination is retarded ill-health and slug- 

 gi.shne.ss is sure to follow. Those of seden- 

 lary habits, who arc .said to live well, i. c, 

 those who eat much and take liltle jdiysical 

 exercise, are particularly prone to had elimi- 

 nation. They become like a house which 

 is not cared for. Unbbish accumulates hi the 

 corners, dust settles in all the furniture, the 

 doors creak on their hinges, and the avenues 

 of escape are blocked up. They need cleaning 

 out. Bu.sy men in easy circumstances, law- 

 yers and cleigymen, are often the victims of 

 fixulty elimination, and shoidd spend nart of 

 their time in drinking mineral waters. A 

 blacksmith who works hard and jiei-spires 

 freely is less likely to suffer from .slow elimi- 

 nalion. lie has little need to go to Saratoga 

 to drink the eliminating waters. " Thecurse 

 of the poor is their poverty," is a saying often 

 heard, and it is a truism to some extent. It 

 is equally true that the poverty of the 

 poor is often their greatest blessing. The 

 strong arm, the clear head, sweet .sleeps, 

 and good digestion of the working man often 

 comes from the poverty which compels him to 

 work. The well-to-do man often suffers from 

 indisposition, headache, want of appetite and 

 despondency simply because he is loadoil down 

 with worn-out tissues which should be swei)l 

 away. He tries a little wine, which acts like 

 a wlup on an over-fat horse. It starts him 

 up for a moment, l)ut only increases the trou- 

 bles by further retarding the breaking down 

 and cleaning out of the dirt and cobwebs with 

 which his tissues are handicapped. Such a 

 man would derive great benefit from a course 

 of mineral waters of the first-class, viz: the 

 eliminatives. They would be to him the same 

 as a thunder shower to New York or Brook- 

 lyn in summer — cooling and cleansing. Ca- 

 tarrhal states of the mucus membrane of the 

 alimentary canal, so common everywhere lead 

 to torpor of the liver and constipation, and all 

 the aches and pains attendant thereon. The 

 subject of these disorders, which have been 

 brought on by years of unwholesome living, 

 may take an occasional dose of medicine with- 

 out relief. They become chronic grumblers, 

 and fancy that they belong to the cla.ss of in- 

 curables, while the lact is they only require to 

 drink cathartic waters three or four weeks to 

 be fully restored to health and strength. Oth- 

 ers there are who have no such derangement of 

 the digestive organs, but suffer from inac- 

 tivity or functional derangement of the kid- 

 neys. They may be said to have renal consti- 

 pation. They feel weak because oppre-ssed by 

 the lead of excrementitious matter whioh the 

 kidneys fail to throw off. They eat freely to 

 gain the desired strength, but that only in- 

 creasing the distress. That is like heaping 

 coals upon a fire without raking out the ashes. 

 That which they vainly try to do for them- 

 selves can easily be accomplished by the free 

 use of diuretic watei-s. By the judicious use 

 of these waters Bright's disease can often Ix; 

 prevented. When that dread disease is once 

 fully established it is folly to talk about curing 

 it. But the functional desorders of the kid- 

 neys alluded to above tend to organic di.sease, 

 and thoy should be promptly relieved.— J\r. 1'. 

 IHmes. 



Subsciibe for the Lan'casteh F armkk, the 

 best and cheapest agricultural pai>er in the 

 State. Fvery farmer should take it. 



OSTRICH FARMING IN THE STATES. 



My recent report on ostrich furming in the 

 United Stales seems to have elicited consider- 

 able interest, and I am in receipt of many 

 letters making further inquiries on the 8ubje<!t, 

 and not having time lo answer them separate- 

 ly, I have thought (hat the various questions 

 asked might bc'tter 1m! met by :i supplemental 

 report, which you will lind inclosed. 



I give the points in order in which they 

 occur to me .■ 



1. I do not think it would Ih; pus.sible lo send 

 ostrich eggs to the United States and have them 

 arrive there in good condition. The long 

 voyage and motion of Ihe shi](, lo say nothing 

 of the pa.ssage they wouhl have to make across 

 the heats of the equatorial reglnn.s, would so 

 addle them that they would be unlit for incu- 

 bation upon their arrival. This i.s not merely 

 my own opinion, but also that of the oftrkh 

 furmcr.i located here. 



•J. The only s<'ife way is to procure the birds ; 

 and Messrs. Hill, Prolheroe & Co., wlio have 

 been .so successful in transplanting the African 

 ostrich into this country, inform me that, .so 

 convinced are they that the United .Stales 

 offer all the facilities necessiiry to a sncce.s.sful 

 |)rosecutiou of the business, they propose very 

 soon to take a lot of the birds there and thus 

 give our coimtrj^men an opportunity of feasting 

 the new industry. They are now making 

 arrangements to this end. The cargo will 

 consist principally of four-year old birds, as 

 they stand a sea voyage the best, and they can 

 be sold, by comparison, much cheaper than 

 older birds, and besides, they assure me that 

 from their experience of the losses and ex- 

 l)enses of bringing birds from the Cape of 

 (^ood Hope, it does not pay nearly so well lo 

 import the feathered birds a.s to rear them 

 from the breeders in the country iUelf. 



On the subject of this industry and ils natu- 

 ralization in the United States I submit the 

 following letter, which I have received from 



them : 



Buenos Avicks, ,\pril 13, iss-j. 



l>EAn Sir:— We beg to state that we have 

 made reiilies to thi' letters you handed us from 

 various i^irtics in the lluiu-d States, asking 

 further information than that contained in 

 your own a\Av nport to the di-partment of 

 state, on Ihe subject of ostricli farmiiii;. 



This enterprise continues to tlourish in this 

 coiMitrv, so far as the well-hiiiig of the birds 

 is concerui'd, and theipialily of the feathers 

 produced on the riih pasture of the pampas is 

 much superior to the average at the Chi*. 



Our breeding birds have already commenced 

 and somc^ chickens havi' been hatched out, 

 nnd we shortly expect a further numlnT. 



Should you send any further report to your 

 government we should like lo point out the 

 special advaiita«ri's whi<'h we consider tlie Uni- 

 ted States offer lo this inilustry ; that ihere is 

 in the the country itself a vast market for all 

 the feathers which can possibly Im" produced 

 there for years to come ; and dmd'tless 

 there is an imi)ort duty which will protict 

 the home grower, and ('liable him to obtain a 

 higher jiriee than foreign growers can in other 

 markets. This fact infiuences, of course, the 

 value of the chickens reareil in the Stjite.s. 

 the highest prices, of course that can Iw asked 

 for tlii'm is just what it costs to import. Now 

 as the cxpeu.ses of shipping are very heavy, 

 and the loss at sea is sure lo be large and may 

 be terrific, without lhe|Missibility of insurance 

 it will s<'ai-cely pay to introduce any but four 

 year old birds anil breeders, with a view of 

 raising the feather birds in the SUites. Con- 

 .sequently all fear of cheap importation lieing 

 done away with, a very handsome figure can 



